For the 1st time since coronavirus outbreak began, China reports no new local infections

A health care worker sanitizes a hospital bed in China.
(Image credit: STR/AFP via Getty Images)

On Thursday, China announced that there were no local COVID-19 coronavirus infections reported in the country on Wednesday, for the first time since the outbreak started late last year.

There were 34 infections diagnosed, but all involved people who came to China from other countries, China's National Health Commission said. Of those infections, 21 cases were in Beijing.

After originally mismanaging the outbreak — residents complained of food shortages and a lack of hospital beds and test kits — and even punishing doctors who tried to spread the word, China enforced quarantines, shut down factories, and kept people out of cities they didn't live in. There are 80,928 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in mainland China, with the death toll at 3,245.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.